The music release checklist
Everything between "the master is approved" and "it's live everywhere" — in timeline order, so nothing surfaces the night before release.
The full four-stage checklist that gets a track to release-ready — songwriting, production, mix and mastering, every step named. Enter your email and it downloads right away; it also saves you a founder-price spot for when paid plans open.
One honest precondition before any of this applies: the track is actually finished. Most "release problems" are unfinished-track problems wearing a costume — the artwork stalls because deep down you know the mix isn't done. If that sentence stung, start with when is a song actually finished? and come back. Everything below assumes an approved master.
4–6 weeks out — masters, metadata, ownership
EXIT TEST: someone else could upload this release correctly using only your files and notes.
- Final master approved after a listen on earbuds, car and phone — dated and marked FINAL, no "v3-fix2" ambiguity
- Exports in hand: 24-bit WAV archive master + the format your distributor asks for
- Artwork final at 3000×3000, no social handles or URLs on it (stores reject them)
- Track title, artist name and featured credits spelled exactly as they should appear — stores print what you type
- Songwriter and producer splits agreed and written down, however informal the collaboration felt
- Lyrics in a text file, final — you'll need them for stores, sync forms and captions
- Explicit / clean status decided per track
3–4 weeks out — distribution and pitch window
EXIT TEST: the release exists in the distributor's system with a date, and the pitch is submitted.
- Distributor chosen and release uploaded — every service needs lead time; same-week uploads forfeit your options
- Release date set deliberately, with at least 3–4 weeks of runway
- ISRC and UPC assigned (your distributor usually generates them — note them down)
- Artist profiles claimed: Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists
- Editorial playlist pitch submitted through Spotify for Artists — it needs the release to exist well before release day; miss the window and that door closes
- Pre-save / pre-add link generated and tested
1–2 weeks out — the promo kit
EXIT TEST: release-day posting requires zero creation, only publishing.
- Short vertical clips cut (2–3, from the sections that hook) — made now, not release morning
- Canvas / visualizer uploaded where supported
- One-paragraph blurb written: what the track is, in the words you'd say out loud
- Release-day posts drafted and scheduled where your audience actually is
- Pre-save link shared at least once before release week
Release day and the week after
EXIT TEST: verified live and correct on every major platform, and the follow-up done while the track is warm.
- Track verified live and correct on the platforms that matter to you — right artwork, right credits, right audio
- All your link-in-bio / smart links point at the new release
- Scheduled posts actually went out; pinned where pinning helps
- Added to your own artist playlists the same day
- Thank-yous and shares answered during week one — the algorithm's window and the audience's are the same
- One week later: numbers glanced at once, lessons noted, and the next track opened — the release cycle ends by starting the next one
The same two rules that govern every checklist here: steps get checked, not remembered — and a release phase, once closed, stays closed. "I'll fix the credits after it's live" is how wrong credits stay live for a year.
The release is the last stage. The Workpad handles the four before it.
Songwriting, production, mix and mastering tracked step by step per project, so "release-ready" is a checked list, not a feeling. One active project free · $4.99 one-time unlocks full features.
Open The Engineer's Workpad